With CEO's resignation, what's next for the King County Regional Homelessness Authority?

When King County’s Regional Homelessness Authority launched in 2019, the vision was for a streamlined response to homelessness across King County.

But the last few years have been bumpy for the agency.

Service providers went public with their concerns, telling the Seattle Times the KCRHA was months behind in inking contracts. That hurt their ability to cover operating expenses and pay staff.

KCRHA also received pushback from board member and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell over its multi-billion dollar budget proposal.

These issues came to a head last week when King County Regional Homelessness Authority CEO Marc Dones submitted their resignation letter.

In the letter, Dones left their successor with two suggestions. The first: Rethink the structure of the board that oversees the authority. And the second: Put more time and energy into addressing the underlying, systemic issues behind our national homelessness crisis.

Dones’ resignation raises questions like, how effective are cross county agencies like the KCRHA? And how do Seattle’s strategies for addressing homelessness compare with approaches other cities are taking?

Soundside host Libby Denkmann caught up with Steve Berg, the chief policy advisor for the National Alliance to End Homelessness to talk about Dones' resignation, and where the agency goes now.

Listen to the full segment by clicking the play button at the top of this story.